Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday,
November 8, 2019
Some of the doctrinal lessons that the Lord revealed to Joshua in the natural and spiritual realm so that we can learn how to handle pressure doctrinally in the spiritual realm.
“How can you teach that those principles that the Lord gave to Joshua are the same type of principles that the Lord may give to us?”
ROM 15:4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Notice one of the first promises that our Lord made to His people; "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.”
Sincerity - tamiym also means that we must serve the Lord with honesty and integrity with no strings attached and without any hypocrisy, and not for personal gain says the apostle Peter; 1PE 5:2.
First, in JOS 24:14, Joshua says “Now, therefore, fear or respect and honor the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth;
- The command to honor and respect the Lord; JOS 24:14; Psa 56:4-10.
- The importance of submitting to the Divine Authority that our Lord promised us and to also serve Him in sincerity and truth or proper motivation.
For us believers in the Church-age, this refers to our Lord delivering us from the cosmic system and its citizens.
JOS 24:15, notice that our Lord brings up the importance of our free will decisions and our ability to choose the choices that the Lord has set before us.
One of the reasons why it is so important for the Apostles to learn about Truth is that Truth was the main issue when our Lord was sent to Pilate.
Stay in the Gospel of John as much as possible and listen to our Mentor, God the Holy Spirit, and what He has to say as He lead us and guide us on the road to spiritual victories.
JOH 18:38 Pilate said to our Lord Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him.
What was the main difference between our Lord’s ministry and Moses’ ministry?
- The difference is found and answered in JOH 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
JOH 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
JOH 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. "
Written Word = Bible
Living Word = The Spiritual Life
”Will they follow the Word of God or will they be deceived by the god of this world, known as Satan or the Devil, who has been a liar from the beginning; JOH 8:44.
- "You are of your father the devil”
2. “You want to do the desires of your father” - He was a murderer from the beginning;
4. He does not stand in truth;
5. He has no truth in him; - He speaks lies from his own demonic nature;
7. He is a liar;
8. He is the father of lies.
Whether or not you believe that the passage in Joh 15 is a true story or a parable, it doesn’t really matter, what really matters is the message.
Vinedresser = God the Father
Vine = The Lord Jesus Christ.
Branches = believers of the Church-age.
“in me” = Indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first one deals with the doctrine of Divine Discipline when our Lord said "Every branch [believer] in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away;
This “taken away” is done by our Lord because He loves us and because He does, Divine Discipline is one of the only ways that God can get our attention at certain times.
He starts us out with what is called “Warning Discipline” every now and then to get our attention before we dig a hole to deep even for us to get out of.
Whether Warning Discipline
Intensive Discipline
Dying Discipline.
He disciplines the carnal believer just as much as He disciplines the mature believer.
He loves the carnal believer just as much as He loves the mature believer.
One of the main principles that our Lord is emphasizing to His Apostles the importance of relationships and intimacy.
One of the things that promotes relationships with intimacy is to know that Christ indwells us and because He does we should treat one another as we would want others to treat us; MAT 25:40; Luk 6:31.
If we are ever going to have any godly relationships in this life or godly friendships, then we must truly believe and apply passages like 2CO 5:16.
2CO 5:16 Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
JOH 15:2 "Every branch [referring to every believer] in Me [The Lord Jesus Christ] that does not bear fruit, He [God the Father] takes away;
and every branch [believer] that bears fruit, He [God the Father] prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
Throughout this passage the apostle John uses the vine, the vinedresser and the branches as a metaphor to represent the relationship of the believer with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have the vine and the branches used as a metaphor to represent the unity between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church-age believer.
The vine represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
The branch represents the believers of the Church-age.
The vinedresser represents God the Father.
The vinedresser metaphor refers to God the Father as the author of the Predesigned Plan of God = with emphasis on the PPOG that God the Father created for every Church-age believer.
Vine Metaphor = refers to the humanity of Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union. This metaphor will focus in on the servant-hood of our Lord and what.
As a branch, the branch metaphor refers to the believer who is the basis for the production of divine good or fruit-bearing.